Diverse Fantasy Books: YA and Middle Grade
Get your kids excited about reading by helping them deep into new worlds and explore new possibilities within our own with fantasy and science fiction! This collection for tweens and teens is full of page turners about magical powers, supernatural beings, and alien invasions. What’s not to love? Find your child’s new favorite book in these diverse fantasy books (and science fiction!) for YA and middle grade. Best of all, most are part of a series!
Disclosure: I received complimentary copies of the books below for review purposes; however, all opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.
Diverse Fantasy Books: YA and Middle Grade
Enjoy this collection of diverse fantasy books and science fiction novels for tweens and teens.
Have a kid who loves watching makeup videos on YouTube? Then they will identify with Hasani, whose summer goal is to grow her YouTube audience for her makeup tutorials. But those plans are derailed when she discovers she has magical powers and is whisked off to a charm school that has graduated generations of young witches. But Hasani faces more hurdles than most, because she is a “wildseed,” someone from a family of non-witches. Can she tame her powers in time, or will the obstacles be too much to overcome? A really fun read about believing in yourself and finding where you belong.
Buy Wildseed Witch on Amazon or Bookshop
Redemptor, the sequel to Raybearer, draws us into a captivating world of palace intrigue, assassination attempts, and sinister spirits. Just as Tarisai is now coming into her full power as a Raybearer, she is asked to make the ultimate sacrifice to pay for the past sins of her empire. Whom can she trust, and can she withstand the pressure to find a solution that could save herself and her loved ones? A suspenseful read that is sure to spark conversations about justice and how to deal with past atrocities.
Buy Redemptor on Amazon or Bookshop
Amari and the Great Game is a follow up to Amari and the Night Brothers. After saving the supernatural world, Amari finds herself suddenly the focus of attention, not all of it positive. Many are still skeptical about magicians, but Amari’s main concern is that her brother is not recovering from his curse. In fact, it seems to be worsening. Amari wants to stay out of the spotlight, but when she has a chance to join a high stakes competition to determine the future of the supernatural world, she must take it in order to save her brother.
Buy Amari and the Great Game on Amazon or Bookshop
12 year old Viv is excited for a trip to the lake, but her summer vacation plans are ruined when her mom forces her to a Take Your Kids to Work Day. Although her mom works at Area 51, Viv knows her job is actually incredibly boring – or so she thinks. When aliens attack and abduct her mom and other employees, Viv and her group of misfit friends must step in to help save their parents. Featuring lots of cool gear, great characters, and yes, just a little bit of romance.
Buy Area 51 Interns: Alien Summer on Amazon or Bookshop
Trist Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky is one of the books that has been recommended to me time and again – and for good reason! Like all the books in the Rick Riordan Presents collection, it is based on mythology, but this time it includes Black American mythical figures, like John Henry, Brer Rabbit, and Anansi. Tristan Strong is not looking forward to visiting his grandparents in Alabama, but a mysterious creature leads him to accidentally open a passage to MidPass, where he finds himself in the middle of a battle of epic proportions. Can Tristan make an alliance with the trickster Anansi before more of his loved ones are hurt?
Buy Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky on Amazon or Bookshop
The Last Mapmaker is a Thai-inspired fantasy from Christina Soontornvat, author of three Newbery Honor Books. 12 year old Sai is assistant to a venerated mapmaker, who is attempting to secure her future while hiding the secret of her low-bred heritage. An expedition to chart the southern seas seems like the perfect opportunity to start her new life, but she soon learns that there is more to the trip than meets the eye. What will await them in the Sunderlands, the fabled land of immense dangers but also incredible riches?
Buy The Last Mapmaker on Amazon or Bookshop
The YA book Dawn of Yangchen is the third in the Avatar: The Last Airbender series (the fourth book comes out later this summer). Yangchen has not yet earned the respect she desires, but her very inexperience may be her strongest asset. She forms an uneasy alliance in an effort to stop a plot to deploy a weapon of mass destruction, but ultimately she must learn to trust herself in order to become a powerful Avatar.
Buy the Dawn of Yangchen on Amazon or Bookshop
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